Roof closed as rain delays US Open

New York - Simona Halep and Lucie Safarova became the first players to start a match under the $150 million Arthur Ashe Stadium roof at the US Open Thursday as rain brought delays to outside courts.

The retractable roof had been called into action for the first time on Wednesday night midway through the second set of Rafael Nadal's win over Andreas Seppi.

But with heavy rain lashing New York, organisers kept the roof shut on the 22,000-capacity Ashe arena from the start of play on Thursday.

On the outside courts, play was delayed until 12:00 (16:00 GMT) at the earliest.